Food From The Garden

When you think of the Crossroads of America, what's the first thing that comes to mind? The Coke bottle? The Wabash River? One thing that will now come to mind when I think of Terre Haute, Indiana is the cute little restaurant on Wabash Avenue called the Aracari Kitchen. Absolutely everything on their menu is vegan and almost everything is gluten free. Not too long ago, I was fortunate enough to get to hang out with my cousin and we decided to check this place out together. We have absolutely no regrets. I got the "To The East" salad which consists of spinach, arugula, romaine, napa cabbage, carrot, radish, cucumber, and a ginger peanut dressing. However, they were out of that dressing so instead they used the maple pumpkin one that they normally put on the Buddha bowl. They also topped it with sesame seeds and black flax seeds. The dressing had the right kind of spice and it really added quite a punch to the salad. The seeds they topped it with really made it aesthetic...

Being the only vegan in my family and one of few vegans I know in real life, it's not that often that I get to go to a vegan restaurant. The challenge of navigating eating at a restaurant that doesn't even have vegan options other than a salad and maybe fries is nothing new to me. That's why when I do go to a vegan restaurant, it's so much fun because not only do I have more options of what I can eat but they're also run according to the philosophy that's influencing my food choices so I fit in seamlessly. Not too long ago, I went with my mom and two friends of ours to a vegan AND gluten free restaurant in Haddon Township, NJ called Heart Beet Kitchen. They also have a location in Ocean City and they deserve to become an even bigger chain and expand out of New Jersey. We all loved it there and we will be back for sure. I ordered the "Eggplant Meatball" dish which consists of raw spiralized zucchini, eggplant based meatballs, and marinara sauce. With t...

Vegan or not, we all have our fair share of items that we cannot imagine having to go a few days without, that are never not on our grocery lists. For me, those items changed dramatically as I transitioned vegan and after I committed and even more as I transitioned gluten free. Here are some of the items that are always on my grocery list. 1. Kale. I eat a lot of salads and kale is my preferred base because I enjoy the taste and texture of it. Because it's darker in color, it is also more nutrient dense than other greens. 2. Spinach. I also make a lot of smoothies because I prefer raw food for breakfast and smoothies are easy to do raw. When I make my green smoothies and juices, I also prefer to use spinach for that because it blends easily and cohesively. I also use it on salads and on lettuce-wrapped burgers. 3. Tomatoes. We love tomatoes in our house. Left to our own devices, I'm sure any of us would gladly eat our whole week's supply in one sitting if given both t...

Trader Joe's is not my family's regular grocery store but there are things I like getting from there every time we go there, which is not often. This is not necessarily a list of things I consider staples on my plant based diet but they're things I do like to get from Trader Joe's. This is also unlike many lists of vegan Trader Joe's finds because many of the ones I've read center around the processed foods that I try to stay away from as much as possible. As such, this one doesn't center around the processed foods as much. 1. Mini watermelon. Our fridge is super small and refrigerator clutter bothers everyone in my house (except me) so we don't really like to take up a lot of space with a normal sized watermelon but that's all they have at our regular grocery store. Trader Joe's has mini ones that are much better on our space budget. I like using watermelon as the base for my green juices. Watermelon is a good juice base because it certainly li...

Happy Independence Day for my American viewers! When it comes to the food, the 4th of July and Thanksgiving are very much alike. Most of you are probably scratching your heads thinking "How? Are you crazy? Thanksgiving is about the turkey and mashed potatoes but the 4th is about the BBQ and that's all we care about" and I get that but hear me out because when it comes to similarities between two seemingly very unlike things, there is way more than meets the eye. I hate to say this on a day about the freedom Americans have (to eat whatever they want) but the typical American diet focuses very much on meat, refined carbohydrates, added sugars, preservatives, and lots of junk your body doesn't need. This mantra tends to be even more pronounced on holidays, which we often see as a perfect excuse to indulge. On Valentine's day, we seek out the chocolates we know our loved ones will love. McDonald's comes back out with their shamrock shakes for St. Patrick's Da...